A multi-crore drinking water project in Darjeeling is yet to be ready, although five years have passed since the deadline for its completion, prompting concerns that the second phase of the scheme, which has also been sanctioned, might face the same delay.
The ₹204.8 crore project to revamp the water distribution system in the Darjeeling municipality, sanctioned under the Atal Mission of Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT), had started in August 2018. AMRUT is under the Union ministry of urban development.
The project was to be completed within 30 months, which means by 2021.
“We now hope to complete the project by the end of December this year. The delays were largely in obtaining clearance from various departments, such as the forest and highways. In fact, we got these clearances only in the past two years,” said
a source.
The project looks at revamping the water distribution system in the Darjeeling municipality that was set up by the British.
“Of the 23 feeder tanks, we have completed setting up 22 tanks. Work was halted along the Jorebunglow stretch because of tourism season traffic. Work along the Alubari stretch in Darjeeling is also taking time because of the terrain,” said a source.
Darjeeling town sources its water from North Lake, which has a storage capacity of 20 million gallons, and South Lake (13.5 million gallons). The two lakes are fed by 22 feeder streams.
Water collected from another lake, Sindhap lake (14 million), also feeds the north and south lakes near Tiger Hill.
“However, of the total need of 6.4 million gallons of water per day in the Darjeeling civic area, we can only supply around 1.2 million gallons of water during the dry season. We do not have problems during the rainy season,” said a source.
The data highlight the significance of the ongoing AMRUT project.
“We need more storage and a better distribution system to solve the drinking water crisis in town,” said an expert.
Under the ongoing AMRUT project, pipes for water meters have also been connected to 11,000 households. “However, we stopped giving the connections as most water pipes were stolen over the years (largely because of the delay in the project). It will be resumed once we are near completion,” said a source.
The project has been conceived keeping in mind the Darjeeling municipality’s population of 1,20, 414 in 2011.
Even though AMRUT 1.0 is yet to be completed, the Centre has also sanctioned another ₹298.60 crore in April 2025 under AMRUT 2.0 for the Darjeeling municipality area.
“This includes ₹238 crore for essential drinking water supply works and ₹60 crore for constructing a new reservoir at Senchel,” said Raju Bista, Darjeeling BJP MP.
Bista recently wrote to Manohar Lal Khattar, Union minister of housing and urban development, saying there are delays in preparing a detailed project report under AMRUT 2.0 by the Bengal government.
“Despite this significant funding I am disappointed to note that the West Bengal government has not called DPR to be prepared and there has been no visible progress on the ground in implementing these vital projects,” wrote Bista, adding that he feared that the Bengal government might have “diverted away the funds”.